Governor



' C. H. HORN ET AL GOVERNOR Filed Dec. 27, 1921 N. M H H D R m M &

INVENTORS CHARLES W. fLzlschAzlzx.

ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 9, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLIFFORD E. HORN, OF LINCQLN, NEBRASKA, AND CHARLES W. FLEISCHAUER, OF LANSING. MICHIGAN.

GOVERNOR.

Application filed December 27, 1921.

To all 1117mm it may concern:

Be it known that we, CLIFFORD H. HORN and CHARLES 1V. FLnisorn-iunn, citizens of the United, States, residing at Lincoln, in the county of Lancaster and State of Nebrasha, and Lansing, county of Ingham, State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Governors, of which the following a specification.

One object of our invention is the pro vision of a governor which is suitable for all kinds of prime movers.

ixl'lOtllGl of our objects is to produce a governor which while having the maximum efficiency, is designed with the minimum number of parts.

Another of our objects is extreme simplicity in design.

Still another object and one of the most important is to provide a governor in which the wearing parts are reduced to the minimum.

Having in view these objects and others which will appear as the description progresses, we refer to the drawings of which Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section of our governor on the drive shaft.

Figure 2 is an end view of our governor.

Figures 3 and 4 are diagrams showing the directions and magnitudes of the lines of force in different variations in design of the governor.

In Figures 1 and 2, the numeral 10 indicates any positively driven shaft of any type of prime mover. In the present in stance, this is the drive shaft of an internal combustion engine, but the governor is of universal applicability. On the shaft 10 and mounted to rotate with it is a body 11 having a cone face 12. The body 11 may be integral with the fly wheel or it may be a separate element. In the body 11 are channels 13 having openings on the cone face 12. W e prefer to provide three of these channels equidistantly spaced and each normal to the cone face, but in both of these respects the design can be varied in numerous ways. Loosely placed in the channels 13 are balls 14 having a diameter slightly smaller than that of the channels.

Loosely mounted on the shaft 10 adjacent the body 11 is a concave element 15 having an internal cone face 16 which is uniformly spaced from the cone face 12. In the construction shown, the body 11 is provided Serial No. 524,948.

with a shoulder 17 over which a flange 18 of the element fits loosely, but this may be omitted in special instances. In actual practies with the governor in use on drive shafts running ordinary speeds, the sleeve 18 is absolutely essential for keeping the loose cone properly centered through coaction with the shoulder 17. On very high speed shafts however, the shoulder 18 may be omitted, since the centrifugal force developed at high speeds will keep a well-balanced cone centered on the shaft. A control lever or rod 19 has a fork 20 embracing the shaft 10. In practice the fork is spring pressed against the loose cone 15, and the opposite end of the control rod 19 is connected with the throttle, brake, resistance, or other suitable element of the prime mover. The spring at the upper end of the lever 19 in Figure 1 illustrates conventionally the normal urging of the lever by the throttle control or other mechanism.

In operation, the rotation of the shaft 10 and the fast cone 11 causes the balls to be thrown outwardly by centrifugal force, this resulting in a pressure against the cone surface 16. The pressure against the cone forces the cone to slide longitudinally on the shaft 10, thus moving the lever or rod 19 to progressively open or close the throttle or to apply or release the pressure on the brake or to otherwise slacken or speed up the prime mover. Since the centrifugal force varies as the square of the linear velocity or as the square of the number of revolutions per unit of time, it is apparent that the pressure developed in the balls 14, especially at the higher speeds, is very great.

In our earlier experiments with the gov ernor we found that a damping effect resulted whenever there was a sudden increase or decrease in the speed of the engine, and the governor would not respond with sufficient rapidity. This was due to the fact that a sudden increase in the speed rarefied the air between the cone faces 12 and 16 to such an extent that the outward movement of the loose cone was materially retarded. Likewise a sudden decrease in the speed caused the air between the cone faces to compress, and thus resist the governing action of the governor. We have however overcome this difiiculty by providing the loose cone with apertures 21 for the ingress and agress of air. These apertures are important since without them the governor is not soiliciently sensitive to be always successful.

From, the description it will be apparent that we have designed a governor which is devoid of'pivots, links, and levers, and yet while of the simplest possible construction and design it is extremely sensitive and powerful. When the parts are constructed with the pro-per balance, the loose cone cont acts with neither the shaft nor the fixed cone, and its only points of contact are with the balls and with the control rod. The contact with the balls is a nonfriction contact, and the fork of the control rod bears against a comparatively large surface of the loose cone thus reducing wear through friction. The loose cone moreover does not partake of the motion of the fixed cone and. in fact it at times does not rotate.

We have shown the axes of the channels 13 and the cone surface 16 positioned at angles of forty-five degrees to the center line of the shaft. While many variations are possible in the design of the governor. the variations in these two elements are of the greatest importance, since the angle of the axes of the channels w'th the axis of the shaft determines the magnitude of the centrifugal force developed, while the in clination of the cone surface 16 determines the quantity of this force which is utilized for thrusting the loose cone forward on the shaft. We have attempted to show this graphically in Figures 3 and. 4-, where the line AB represents the center line of the shaft and the line BC represents the inclination of the cone face 16. At thevcrtex A. are a number of angles which represent various inclinations of the channels 13. The angular velocity of a rotating body remaining constant, the centrifugal force varies as the radius of rotation. The vertical lines in Figure 3 represent the radii of rotation for the various angles there shown, and since centrifugal. force varies with the radius of rotation, these vertical lines also represent the magnitudes of the forces developed corresponding to the various angles of the channels, while the angular lines represent the directions in which these forces act. Figure lshows the magnitude and the direction of one of the forces 7, the component of 1 the centrifugal force of the ball 14-. in the direction of the channel 18. Manifestly this is least for the straight angle BAB and. greatest for the right angle BAG. The mass and velocity of the balls being known, the centrifugal force can be determined in absolute terms if the radius of rotation is also known. The magnitude of the centrifugal force for any angle relative to that for a right angle can be calculated from the formula,

f, f tan A tan A +tan B In the utilization of this force, it is found that the force is resolved into a horizontal component :0 and a vertical component 3 The horizontal component a: is arbitrarily so designated as the force which acts parallel to the shaft, and this force is the only one which enters into our calculations, since it is the force which gives the forward motion to the loose cone. Knowing the angle at which. this force is directed and the magnitude of the force, the horizontal component a: can readily be determined from the formula,

Having fully described our invention and the manner in which it is used, what we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a governor, a rotatable shaft a cylindrical hub secured to said shaft and having a cone at one end with sockets, balls loosely positioned in said sockets, a hollow cone arranged about said shaft and having a. relatively large axial opening to receive the shaft with an air space between the shaft and the marginal edge of the opening, said hollow cone being in contact with said balls and having air openings therein and being provided with a collar portion overlapping said hub to hold the cones in concentric relation, and means connecting said hollow cone to a governing part of an engine to regulate the speed of the engine.

2. A governor comprising a shaft, a hub member secured to the shaft and having a cone on one end with outwardly opening sockets in the cone, balls in the sockets, a second cone member of relatively slight axial dimensions encasing the first cone member and lying close thereto and provided with a relatively large axial opening loosely receiving the shaft and with inter mediate openings to relieve suction between the cones, and an engine controlling device engaging the exterior side of the second cone for actuation thereby.

In testimony whereof we affix our sigz natures.

CLIFFORD H. HORN. CHARLES FLEISCHAUER. 

